DTN Midday Livestock Comments 06/23 11:34

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 06/23 11:34 Corn Falls Out of Bed, Gives Feeders Strength Heading into Thursday's afternoon, the market will be closely watching for any cash cattle trade that could develop and to see how carcass weights fare. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: The feeder cattle contracts are enjoying the corn markets demise, but both the live cattle and lean hog contracts are trending lower. The cash cattle market hasn't seen any interest develop and unless packers are just going to buy thinly this week, more business needs to develop. especially in the North. July corn is down 24 1/2 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $3.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 50.45 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle market flirted with the idea of trading higher, but as skepticism brews throughout the futures complex, the contracts are trading lower. Seeing the 25 deliveries made in Texas this week has set the market trending lower as there's concern that the deliveries will scare some of the longs out of the market. You'd think that with the type of regression the corn market is enduring, even the live cattle market would appreciate the lower feed costs, but with a teetering cash cattle market and worrisome traders -- lower the market goes. June live cattle are down $0.35 at $135.77, August live cattle are down $0.47 at $134.42 and October live cattle are down $0.55 at $140.52. The cash cattle market hasn't seen any bids renewed at this point and asking prices in the South are noted at $140 to $142 and $240-plus in the North. Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.79 ($264.78) and select down $0.96 ($245.03) with a movement of 52 loads (30.31 loads of choice, 13.57 loads of select, zero loads of trim and 8.57 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: The feeder cattle market can't help but trade higher while the corn complex faints $0.27 to $0.45 lower. The grain complex's weakness has come as questions about weather arise and it's seeming like the market has realized that its upward surge was overdone. Nevertheless, as Northern sells 12,900 head of cattle Thursday, the board is in their favor and seeing a regression in input prices is incredibly helpful too. August feeders are up $0.97 at $174.20, September feeders are up $1.07 at $176.37 and October feeders are up $0.90 at $178.20. LEAN HOGS: The lean hog market is enduring a tough spell as the contracts fold $2.00 to $3.00 lower even though both pork cutout values and cash prices are higher. July lean hogs are down $2.42 at $109.42, August lean hogs are down $3.60 at $104.72 and October lean hogs are down $3.15 at $90.80. Slightly slower processing speeds have raised question throughout the market about consumer demand, and until we see next week's Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report, the market could remain rocky. The projected lean hog index for June 22 is down $0.07 at $110.67, and the actual index for June 21 is up $0.29 at $110.74. Hog prices are higher on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report, up $1.28 with a weighted average of $118.61, ranging from $114.00 to $125.00 on 4,626 head and a five-day rolling average of $116.24. Pork cutout values total 136.08 loads with 119.74 loads of pork cuts and 16.34 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.09, $111.24. ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com (c) Copyright 2022 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.